In this episode we go on safari in Africa and meet Polly the Springbok Antelope, Harry the Hippopotamus, Rhiannon the Rhinoceros and we see two of our favourites running around – Debra the Forgetful Zebra and Ryan the Lion. Our KInderzoo Tale this week is about how Gerry the Giraffe got his long neck.

KINDERZOO has its very own rainforest and some of the animals that can be found there are: Poppy the Orangutan, Mike the Proboscis Monkey, Sonny the Sun Bear, Boris the Slow Loris, Colin the Colobus Monkey, Marty the Mandrill. We also find out how Marty the Mandrill got his colourful face.

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Information About Alouette Gentille Alouette

"Alouette Gentille Alouette" is a song often used to teach English speaking children in Canada and French students from around the world the names of body parts in French. Although popular in Canada the song is believed to have originated from France.

The Skylark, or Alouette, is a very gentle and docile bird, easy to catch and handle by even young children. It is also generally understood as the "lark" referred to in the famous poem "In Flander's Fields" with the author using the beauty of it's song and it's gentleness to contrast with the battle fields of France.

As with many children's songs, the history of this song is somewhat gruesome. The song is in French, and may therefore be infrequently translated by English-speaking schoolchildren. The alouette of the song is the European Skylark (Alauda arvensis). During the nineteenth century they were caught, caged, killed and eaten in the UK or exported, in huge numbers, for food, mostly to France. The phrase "je te plumerai" translates as "I am going to pull your feathers out". Once you appreciate this, you can see that it is a song about plucking the feathers from dead skylarks. (Not terribly pleasant subject material. ) However, if you think about the mechanics of the process, the birds are relatively small, and required quite a lot of effort to pluck each individual. If a song was sung during the plucking process, then, presumably, the whole family could be involved in the preparation of the birds for the meal, and the chore wouldn't seem so arduous.

Alternative Lyrics & Related Songs

Here's quite a different version which involves using cream!

(2-4 people holding cans of whipping cream)
We love cool cream,
Cool cream is the best cream;
We love cool cream,
Cool cream is the best!

Would you like some on your toe?
Yes, I'd likesome on my toe!
On your toe,
On my toe! (squirt some on their toe).

(chorus).

Another version. Same tune, just different words

If you love me,
Tell me that you love me,
If you don't,
Please tell me that you do.

Tell me that you love me true,
Tell me that you really do,
Do do do
Do do do
Ohhhhhh.

If you love me,
Tell me that you love me,
If you don't,
Please tell me that you do.

A larger version that we can all sing to

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your head
I will pull the feathers off your head
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your beak
And the beak - and the beak
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your neck
And the neck - and the neck
And the beak - and the beak
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your wings
And the wings - and the wings
And the neck - and the neck
And the beak - and the beak
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your back
And the back - and the back
And the wings - and the wings
And the neck - and the neck
And the beak - and the beak
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your legs
And the legs - and the legs
And the back - and the back
And the wings - and the wings
And the neck - and the neck
And the beak - and the beak
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.

Lark, gentle lark
Lark, I will pull your feathers off
I will pull the feathers off your tail
And the tail - and the tail
And the legs - and the legs
And the back - and the back
And the wings - and the wings
And the neck - and the neck
And the beak - and the beak
And the head - and the head
Lark, lark
O, o, o, o, o.